Advanced Scenarios

This section highlights advanced use cases where Manufacturing Essentials extends standard Dynamics 365 Business Central behavior to support more complex process manufacturing requirements. These scenarios demonstrate how the app can be used to handle real-life operational challenges with greater flexibility and control.

Manufacturing Essentials introduces key capabilities such as co- and by-product management, enhanced backflushing, multiple order consumption, and detailed variance handling, enabling organizations to adapt standard processes to more advanced manufacturing models.

Co-Product and By-Product Production

Scenario 1 — Multi Product Manufacturing with Planned Co Products (expected outputs)

Use case: A single production process produces a main product and one or more planned additional outputs that must be registered and valued correctly (typical in food manufacturing).

Example: Producing orange juice (main item) and orange pulp (co-product) in the same process, where the pulp quantity is known and expected.

Why this is advanced:

• You must register multiple outputs from the same process and ensure each output is valued against the correct inventory rate.

• Co/by-product quantity behavior can differ: the documentation notes that by-product quantity depends on the base unit of measure of the main item, and production quantity depends on the machine.

What to watch for:

• Co/By-products are not part of production planning, so planning/MRP expectations must be managed accordingly.

Scenario 2 — Waste & Sustainability Tracking with Unexpected By Products

Use case: A process produces a main item but also generates unexpected secondary outputs that you want to register for sustainability reporting, reuse, or resale.

Example: A bakery process produces dough trimmings (by-product) that are reused, or waste that must be tracked and valued for reporting.

Why this is advanced:

• The by-product is not always expected upfront and is registered as an “unexpected by-product,” requiring disciplined registration and valuation.
• This supports broader operational goals like waste and sustainability tracking, explicitly called out as a key usage scenario.

Constraints to consider:

• Negative Production Order Material lines are not supported in Co/By-product management.
• One co-product can only be attached to one main item, meaning you can’t attach a co-product to an entire family of items

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Manufacturing Backflushing

Scenario 1 — FEFO-Driven Backflushing for Lot-Tracked, Expiry-Sensitive Items

Use case: You backflush consumption for lot-tracked components where expiry matters (food/pharma), and you want the system to help enforce FEFO (First Expired, First Out).

Example: Automatically consuming the nearest-expiry lot of a perishable ingredient when posting output.

Why this is advanced:

• The feature enhances standard backflush to automatically calculate and post lot-tracked items during backward flushing.
• It explicitly supports managing expiry-sensitive inventory with FEFO.

Operational advantage:

• Reduces manual lot selection and helps avoid compliance issues caused by consuming non-compliant or soon-to-expire lots incorrectly.

Scenario 2 — Preventing Posting Errors When Inventory Is Insufficient or Lots Are Blocked

Use case: You want to minimize production posting disruptions by preventing backflush from selecting invalid supply (e.g., blocked lots/packages) or triggering postings when inventory isn’t available.

Example: A lot becomes blocked due to quality concerns; automatic assignment must avoid it during consumption posting.

Why this is advanced:

• The feature supports preventing errors due to insufficient inventory and managing blocked lots and packages.
• It also covers handling bin and location codes during backflushing, which becomes critical when inventory is distributed across bins.

Important limitations (plan around these):

• Automatic lot/package assignment does not work for Process Items or Serial No. tracked items.
• It does not work in consumption locations using Advanced Warehouse (Directed Put-away and Pick).
• It does not work when “Prod. Consumption Whse. Handling” is Warehouse Pick (mandatory).

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Multiple Order Consumption

Scenario 1 — Daily Bulk Consumption Posting for Silo/Tank “Process Items”

Use case: In process industries, you don’t register consumption per order in real time; instead, you record bulk usage once per day and distribute it across production orders.

Example: Flour and sugar consumed from silos are recorded daily; the app distributes the consumption to the day’s production orders.

Why this is advanced:

• The feature is designed for “process items” whose consumption is not recorded for each production order individually, and may be recorded once daily.
• It enables automatic distribution and registration of process item consumption. [docs.bricklead.eu]

What you configure: Set items as Process Items across relevant places (Item Card, Production BOM, SKU, Production Order Components).

Scenario 2 — “As-of Date” Inventory Calculation by Lot/Package/Location/Bin (Reconciliation)

Use case: You need to validate and reconcile process item inventory at a specific point in time (audit, month-end close, discrepancy investigation).

Example: Calculate “as-of yesterday” tank inventory by lot and bin to reconcile against physical readings.

Why this is advanced:

• The feature supports calculating process item inventory by Lot No., Package No., Location, and Bin Code as of a specific date.
• It also supports calculating bin content and the related consumption register for process items.

When it’s valuable:

• When production runs continuously and stock levels are influenced by bulk movements not tied 1:1 to a single order.

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Manufacturing Variance Management

Scenario 1 — Threshold-Based Variance Monitoring with Automatic Alerts (Early Intervention)

Use case: You want to detect abnormal consumption or output deviations early and trigger review before the production order is finalized.

Example: If actual consumption exceeds expected by >2%, flag it for investigation.

Why this is advanced:

• The feature provides automated variance monitoring, tracking material/output variances and alerting when thresholds are exceeded.
• It supports proactively addressing variances before they become costly issues.

Outcome:

• Better control over waste and process drift with less manual checking.

Scenario 2 — Enforcing “Warning” vs “Block” Policies to Prevent Costly Posting Mistakes

Use case: Different materials or processes have different tolerance levels, so you enforce policies that either warn users or completely block posting when deviations are too large.

Example: Minor spice variance triggers Warning, but expensive ingredient variance triggers Block until approved.

Why this is advanced:

• The feature supports policy enforcement using Warning or Block policies to prevent overuse of raw materials or incorrect outputs.
• It supports quantitative reviews to ensure deviations are reviewed and resolved before finalizing production orders.

Business value:

• Stronger compliance, fewer write-offs, and more reliable costing.